Michael Janus entered the plea Monday to one count of fraud before U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett in a Hattiesburg courtroom.

Janus and former Ocean Springs mayoral candidate Scott Walker were indicted in November on five counts, alleging the pair steered a 6 percent commission on a $3 million grant to a company Walker controlled. In return, Walker put $90,000 into a company he and Janus controlled.

Walker is indicted in a separate case along with his father, former Department of Marine Resources Director Bill Walker, and two others on charges of misusing hundreds of thousands of dollars of public money.